"online video" articles

Today, Parks Associates released industry reports that address the emerging opportunities, partnerships, and strategic recommendations for the connected CE industry. The report Under Attack: Assessing New Threats to Pay TV notes that while consumers watch over 30 hours of video per week on average, the number of households planning to cancel their pay-TV service (potential cord-cutters) has also increased, reaching 7% of U.S. broadband households with pay-TV service. "The...

Recently, rumors have been circulating that Apple intends to launch its own subscription OTT service independent of iTunes or Apple TV. Online tech news site Re/code reported this week claims from industry executives that Apple is in talks with TV programmers regarding an Apple-backed subscription over-the-top linear pay-TV service. This service would be similar to what DISH Network offers with SlingTV, with selected bundles of linear cable channels and cloud DVR features. Apple has...

Since HBO’s late 2014 announcement that they would go direct to consumer, the TV industry has been abuzz. Speculation about the impact of the service has ranged widely, from those who see the service as a valuable tool to reach Millennials to those who see it as the beginning of the end for pay TV as we know it. This speculation was heightened in the past few days. As has been reported in several of the cited articles, a recent Parks Associates survey of 10,000 U.S. broadband...

In keeping with its strategy to compete in the current OTT market, Amazon announced this month that it is adding original movies to its Amazon Studios productions. Currently, Amazon Prime Instant Video offers 7 original shows. In comparison, Netflix has 11 current original series, adopted and continued 5 series, produced 43 specials, miniseries, and films. Roy Price, the VP of Amazon Studios , said in their press release that the goal is to produce 12 movies a year. This increase...

So, Amazon is getting into the movie business . Here are three questions that I am hearing from folks in the industry about Amazon's announcement. Why is this announcement a big deal? Compared to many other players entering the original content space, Amazon is unique. Netflix , HBO , Hulu , and CBS all have (at least) one thing in common – their primary business is to provide interesting video content to consumers. In contrast, Amazon is a retail / CE maker...

As I stroll and speak around CCW-SATCON today, there is plenty of talk around how OTT rights and licensing are going to affect traditional video distribution methods. However, Google (being Google), decided to crash the party with their announcement of YouTube Music Key , an ad-free subscription service that will allow users to watch, download, and listen to music offline or with the screen locked. The new music service is interesting, and there are a few key takeaways from the...

Game of Thrones, Girls, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver could be coming to a device near you, whether or not you have a pay-TV subscription. This morning at a Time Warner, Inc. investor meeting, HBO chief executive Richard Plepler announced that the network would launch a standalone over-the-top service as soon as 2015 . The jump would not be drastic from a technology standpoint, as HBO currently delivers content through its HBO GO app. However, a move into the...

New research released by Parks Associates this week reveals that approximately two-thirds of Amazon Prime Instant Video subscribers also rent or purchase titles through the service, and their average expenditures are increasing. These findings emphasize the potential role of transactional services to supplement subscription OTT. Amazon’s ‘Transparent’ Gets A Second Season, Netflix Competitor Touts ‘Binge-Factor’ “Amazon is certainly getting traction in the...